Leg training with the weighted deficit bulgarian split squat

Since I don't have much to write about training only with myo-reps yet. I thought I would share bits and pieces and some specific thoughts about certain aspects of my training.

Weighted deficit bulgarian split squat

First subject I would like to share is training legs with weighted deficit bulgarian split squats. My personal go to exercise has been pistol squats and its variations. But due to the existing circumstances I had to let go of them. You need to select your tools according to the task at hand and now weighted deficit bulgarian split squats work better. First few words about the setup and form.

Rear foot support

Use a footstool or something similar. The elevation should not be much higher than the length of your shin. If the elevation is too high you will not be able to reach the bottom part of the lift properly. But if you have the shins of a basketball player you could use your couch for rear foot elevation.

Front foot elevation

High weight plates are good. But I have a secret weapon. A concrete brick covered with duct tape. It's actually quite a useful and stable base for this exercise. You might also try yoga blocks but they might not be stable enough. The level of elevation depends on your mobility. I try to match a regular back squat position that is slightly below parallel.

Concrete brick covered in duct tape. This weighs about 5kg or 11lbs. You can use it as additional weight for other exercises if you throw it in a backpack.

Correct distance

This is a good way to get the distance right between the rear and front foot. Sit on the edge of the rear foot bench. Straighten your working leg and where the heel lands, that is where you place your front foot. Personally I like to use a slightly narrower stance placing the center of my foot on where the heel was placed.

Start from the bottom

This ensures that you have your setup correct and you can do full range of motion. If you can't stay comfortably in the bottom part you need to adjust your setup. Elevation or distance between legs.

Using dumbbells or kettlebell

If I use 2 dumbbells, the weight on the supporting leg side is moved closer to the center of my body instead of the side. With one dumbbell or kettlebell I use the weight on the support leg side.

From this view you can see that the hip joint travels below the knee. The squat depth is comparable to the back squat when you elevate the front foot high enough.

Loading compared to pistol and other single leg squats

Load on the working leg on the pistol squat is about 0.86xBodyweight (we can round it up to 0.9) and the load on the working leg for bulgarian split squat is about 0.7xBodyweight. This value is highly dependent on how much force you put on the supporting leg.

So how much weight in the bulgarian split squat equals bodyweight pistol squat load?

We need to match load on the pistol squat (or any single leg squat) to the bulgarian split squat with added weight.

We just need to calculate the following:

Pistol squat load == Bulgarian + Weight

0.86xBW = 0.7x(BW + weight) = 0.7xBW + 0.7xWeight

0.16xBW = 0.7xWeight

Weight = 0.16/0.7xBW ~ 0.23xBW

So if you use 23% of bodyweight as additional load on the bulgarian split squat you are close to the pistol squat load. For sake of simplicity and with a safe margin lets call it 25% of bodyweight added. With rounding up the pistol squat load 0.9 we would get 28%.

So with some safe margin it would be safe to say that with 30% of additional load you are matching the load of the front foot for the pistol squat.

So for someone like me 0.25..0.3x70kg = 17.5..21kg

I currently use about 25kg and training in the 15-20rep range with that. My usual performance for pistol squats is in the range of 20-25reps that would be expected with the load between 17.5…20kg. My current target is to hit 20 reps for 35% (25kg) of added load.

If you tend to use the rear foot more, then we need to use a 60/40 split instead of the 70/30 split used above. With a 60/40 split this would be.

0.9xBW = 0.6x(BW + weight) = 0.6xBW + 0.6xWeight

0.3xBW = 0.6xWeight

Weight = 0.3/0.6xBW ~ 0.5xBW

Without rounding up the pistol load this would be 0.26/0.6=43%

So for someone who is using the rear foot a bit more for assistance the loading should be in between 0.4..0.5xBW in order to match single leg squat load on the working leg.

How about the bodyweight version compared to pistol squat?

Let's say you can do 10 reps of pistol squats. 

Now if we match the 1RM you would get about 22reps on the deficit bulgarian split squat.

I didn't bother to calculate the formula so I just used the 1RM calculator in my training sheets. Just match the 1RM for weight 90 (%) for 10 reps with weight 70 (%) for x amount of reps. Increase the x until the 1RM matches for both lifts. Below you can see how the 1RM is matched for both lifts. With 22 reps the bodyweight version gives a bit higher 1RM. With 21 reps the 1RM would be lower than the pistol squat.

And if you train up to 30 reps (which would be about 50% of 1RM) you would be in the 15-17 rep range for the pistol squat. Therefore the bodyweight deficit bulgarian is not a great tool if you are more advanced. But with light additional load it can be useful for more advanced trainees if you are willing to push sets to the 20-25rep range. If you have more weight available, let's say 25..50% of bodyweight and push for 20rep+ sets you can get quite strong.

If you want to train with bodyweight only and you are not able to do any single leg squats I would go all out with the deficit bulgarian split squats. I would first do as many reps as possible on the first working set and then crank up some more reps with myo reps for the same leg (3-5 mini sets) in order to save time and sanity. It does not make much sense doing multiple 30-50rep sets with these so I would just push the number of mini sets to 5. So for example 40+7+7+7+7+7. And do this two times for each leg. This would equal about 6 straight sets. And then some quad centric work such as the heel elevated wall squats.

If you are a beginner you should first build up to 15-20 high quality reps with straight sets before implementing myo rep style rest pause sets.

That's it for now. Have fun!